Letter: You can Be Kind to People and Ruthless to Systems
Many people have strong feelings as to how the city and the county should address the issues of homelessness and low/extremely affordable housing. I would like to address not the issue itself, but rather how it was handled.
LETTERS tO THE EDITOR
By Jackie Kent, Ogden Resident
On Tuesday January 7th, 2025, the Ogden City Council discussed the Weber Housing Authority project to renovate the former Aspen Care assisted living facility at 2325 Madison, which would provide permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities who are experiencing homelessness.
Many people have strong feelings as to how the city and the county should address the issues of homelessness and low/extremely affordable housing. I would like to address not the issue itself, but rather how it was handled.
Included on the agenda was the planning commission document from August 7th, 2024 which outlined the housing program IN DETAIL, including links to the East Central Community plan, as well as some project history included for context. I was able to read this information from the agenda and understand it (mostly) as a layperson.
Assuming everyone in the room was also familiar with those documents, the questions posed to Andi Beadles from the Weber Housing Authority were either performative or they were antagonistic (alluding to past verbal agreements, denying that people live here even if they aren’t housed, suggesting people meet their medical needs differently so they can live farther away from resources). Some of the questions provided additional context, but most just showed that the council members were very low-information on exactly the type of housing and programming this project would provide. Not understanding the mission and execution of the project this late in the game seems unwise and doesn’t give me confidence that decision makers are coming to the table with the information they need. Even if it was in the packet.
After all of the questioning of the logistics of the permanent supportive housing project, it was noted that everyone loves the program! The location is the problem! Then why did we spend so much time trying to pick it apart? This is especially alarming since this project has been meeting the requirements at each stage, only to have the goal posts shift wildly quite a ways into it. This seems like a cruel inefficiency, and if the location is the only problem then let’s help the Weber Housing Authority find a comparable location as soon as possible.
Additionally, for a room full of people who claim to support the project, the tone of the questions posed spoke volumes, and highlighted their lack of understanding of the research behind this type of housing.
Minutes later in the work session, the topic of the Ogden Airport was discussed. If the tone of those questions matched those for the Aspen property, it would sound a little like this:
“Why can’t the runway be three miles from the building? Can’t we just bus people there?”
“Does the baggage claim really need to be inside?”
“Who is using this airport? Do they live here? Do they have all their shots?”
“I don’t use an airport so why should I care about this or fund it?”
“Why are we encouraging more air travel when it is one of the worst things for our climate and we happen to live in the place with the worst air quality on this continent?”
“I don’t eat meat so will any of the amenities serve meat?”
“Couldn’t people just take a bus or train to Disneyland?”
“How did the people who fly here make their money? Have they paid all of their fair share of taxes? Please check before they enter”
And so on. You get the point, that would be ridiculous!
My main frustration is: how can we come to the table and have a true discussion on a topic — be it a well-researched housing project model, or parking, or even arts funding– if we are not equally prepared and informed with the information that would allow us to all have the SAME discussion?
Again, I care deeply about Ogden City. When I criticize any part of it I do so only because I care, and no one person, administration, employee, or citizen is responsible for these things. You can be kind to people and ruthless to systems. I encourage our city and its citizens to work harder to have more clarity and communication throughout the life of a project, so that we can prevent the continual eleventh-hour mad dash to hear everyone out and correct misinformation. And ALL of us carry this responsibility to remain engaged. Going forward, I feel like we can have more respectful and difficult conversations regarding this city that we call HOME.